'Worst drought in 1000 years'

November 07, 2006 01:22pm
Article from: AAP


AUSTRALIA is facing its worst drought in 1000 years, state and federal 
leaders have been told.

River Murray Water general manager David Dreverman made the dramatic 
prediction at today's emergency summit on the Murray-Darling basin.

But Prime Minister John Howard, who called the summit, played down the 
claim, saying it was an off-the-cuff remark made after Mr Dreverman's 
formal presentation.

"You say worst drought in a thousand years, I don't think anybody really 
knows that," he said.

Treasurer Peter Costello has previously said that the drought, which has 
crippled vast tracts of rural land since 2001, could become the worst in 
Australian history, while Mr Howard has described it as the worst in 
living memory.

Mr Howard said the summit agreed to draw up contingency plans to secure 
water supplies during the current drought.

A working group of state and federal public servants will report back by 
December 15 on the plans to secure water supplies during the 2007-08 
water year, which commences on June 1 next year.

"I think it's fair to say that we came out of it with an even more sober 
assessment, or understanding, of the challenge," Mr Howard said after 
the meeting with Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, NSW Premier Morris 
Iemma, South Australian Premier Mike Rann and acting Queensland Premier 
Anna Bligh.

Mr Howard said the federal Government had agreed to speed up the 
implementation of proposals under the National Water Initiative, with 
permanent interstate water trading to begin in the southern states on 
January 1, 2007.

"We've asked CSIRO to report progressively by the end of next year on 
sustainable yields of surface and groundwater systems within the 
(Murray-Darling) basin,'' Mr Howard said.

"The Commonwealth will speedily process the projects presented to us by 
the states for assessment under our national water fund.''

Mr Howard said water and climate change issues were already on the 
agenda for the next Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting 
next April.

"This country does face the worst drought in living memory,'' he said.

"It has already affected many of our farmers. The Commonwealth stands 
ready to continue to help our farmers.''

South Australian Premier Mike Rann said the Murray-Darling commissioner 
told the meeting Australia was now facing a one in 1000 year drought.

"We were told at the meeting by the Murray-Darling commissioner that we 
now face, not a one in 100 year drought, but a one in 1000 year 
drought," he said. "So we are into uncharted territory.

"That means we all have to work together. The water in the River Murray 
does not belong to any one state. It is a resource for the nation and 
therefore has to be managed collaboratively rather than independently.

"What we are seeing with this drought is a frightening glimpse of the 
future with global warming."

Mr Rann said the SA Government would immediately begin planning work on 
a weir at Wellington, although it was hoped that would never need to be 
used.

Mr Howard said the issue of the Queensland cotton producer Cubbie 
Station had been discussed, but that it was a diversion.

He said Queensland took 731 gigalitres of water from the system, of 
which Cubbie accounted for about 25 per cent. In contrast NSW took about 
7300 gigalitres.

"You can pretty quickly see that whilst it might be an attractive 
subject for media focus and debate and interest, the idea that Cubbie 
Station is the silver bullet is nonsense," he said.

"Whether you do something about Cubbie Station and whether it's a good 
idea to, in a country as arid as Australia, to have intensive cotton 
farming is another issue and I don't offer a view on it.

"We are missing the point and getting diverted by thinking that doing 
something about Cubbie will solve a problem. It won't."

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks said rainfall data based on 100-year 
averages were no longer applicable and governments needed new data to 
work from.

He said the commitment to better sharing of data and new research by the 
CSIRO were the big outcomes of today's water summit in Canberra.

"We will put, as a result of this, our water allocations, our water 
supply on a sustainable footing," Mr Bracks said.

"We need to acknowledge and recognise that the figures we've used for an 
average water flow are not the figures that will be required in the future.

"This is drought upon drought upon low water reserves.

"Effectively, if we use the 100-year average, we are not representing 
what's happening with the effect of climate change and the low water 
flows and stream flows which are occurring."

Mr Bracks said governments needed new average and new planning for the 
future in the light of climate change.

"That's really the outcome of today - better sharing of information, 
better examination by the CSIRO of long-term sustainability and better 
application by the states, working with the commonwealth through the 
commission, to ensure that we allocate on the appropriate and 
sustainable basis," he said.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the meeting had achieved practical measures.

"We've done that, I believe, in a spirit of cooperation, some very 
practical measures, firstly to provide more assistance but secondly to 
work together on sharing information and to work in a collaborative way 
on the allocation of water," he said.

"NSW and Victoria will resume water trading on Friday.

"We are particularly pleased at the bringing forward, fast-tracking the 
commitment of the part of the Commonwealth as part of the projects that 
we have submitted on the water initiative."

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